Tuesday, April 16, 2013

DRY CREEK BED - part 2 of 2


In part one I described the process of adding a lovely dry creek bed beside the main path at our Ontario cottage.  I loved the organic process I went through. No mapping out the full vision in advance, instead seeing incremental changes that could make it better when I had time to work on it.

Once the heavy lifting was done I got to "dress" it. The stones are the bones but there was much more to be done to really highlight and take full advantage my efforts.

May 2012
  • First I removed the wood ferns that were on a hump between the Periwinkle and the creek so they would not block the view
  • Then I added Ostrich Ferns along the far border to highlight define the creek. The ferns were  harvested from the side of the road
  • Then I added moss. 2 massive 'buttons' of beautiful, lush green moss that I harvested from the side of the road
  • I am adding small ferns and Astilbe. Not sure if the ferns are young or just small, time will tell. And not sure how the Astilbe will do here, but it is less dry than where they struggled before, and if they do well I think they will fit in and look natural even though they do not grow naturally here. 
July 2012
  • I also added Sundrops to the moss buttons. I hope they do not grow too big there since the reason I moved the ferns out in the first place was so they did not block the view. It is nice to have some colour though, that yellow really pops amidst the greens.
  • And finally I have started to add a moss border beneath the 'canopy' of the ferns to define the edge of the creek bed even further.

So while it will mean raking the rocks and moss border each year to keep it clear of leaves I am very happy with the final result.  Or perhaps I should say the result-to-date because you never know what I may think of adding next!

Part 1 of 2
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Sharing with Foliage Follow Up, Nature Notes, 
Outdoor Wednesday, Rurality Blog Hop & Fertilizer Friday

16 comments:

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    1. Thanks so much Christy, I am very excited to see how the moss border and Sundrops have taken this summer.

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    1. Thanks Laura, I am sure you can appreciate how much I enjoyed the creative process, especially in such a beautiful natural setting.

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  3. Very pretty landscape. You did great! Have a happy day!

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  4. That looks great!Have a great day!

    Shantana

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    1. Thanks. I like your post about the root bridges!

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  5. Always tinkering, aren't we? But then that's the fun part..and I'm with you on nudging things this way and that without a master plan. It's obviously working for you.

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    1. Ricki, we have some gardening likes in common I see you use mosses too and transplant from your woods into your garden. I did that last year with Trillium too. I just love them and can't wait to see them when I visit the cottage in a few weeks. Thanks for stopping by hoe to see you again.

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  6. What a fabulous idea. I was wondering what to do with a little area that seems to puddle when it rains and adding rocks to make it look more like a dry bed would be really pretty. Great Job!

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    1. Thanks Terie I am glad you feel inspired. It was an interesting job to tackle, all fun and good healthy time spent outside.

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  7. What a delightful project you've undertaken. It must be fun to piece in all those plants to give a naturalistic effect to your dry streambed.

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    1. Pam, it has been a really fun exercise and compiling it all into a single post really reminded me how much has been done over time. Fun every step of the way.

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  8. There is always something new to do in the garden..I love the results..Michelle from Nature Notes..

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    1. Thanks Michelle, glad you enjoyed it. I know I sure do :)

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